A peculiar mix of existential road trip journey and deeply human dystopian drama, this year’s international film contender from Spain is a curiosity made more memorable through the trance of its soundscape. Oliver Laxe’s transfixing drama Sirat (B-) is a puzzling tale set in Morocco rave culture and follows desert denizens through a series of raw, uncompromising and disturbing episodes. The main throughline is a quest for a missing girl, but a variety of congregating characters contribute to a narrative about people facing their limits. The ensemble of actors plays its respective parts with no clear standout (Nashville it ain’t), but Kangding Ray (aka David Letellier) is the film’s MVP providing the atmospheric electronic score. The movie’s high points are visceral, experimental and observant as it plays witness to earth’s people as playthings and random occurrences as part of cosmic universal truths. The film nearly begs for concessions served in a dime bag. Like many who may imbibe and watch this, it loses significant steam toward the end.